In light of recent protests against its Middleton development, Captiva Homes has reiterated its commitment to making Bembridge a more inclusive and accessible community for everyone. Captiva is looking to build a new 130-home development at the junction of Mill Road and High Street – a site designated for houses by the Isle of Wight Council in 2018. The development could inject £40million into the local economy through its construction phase, and create more than 50 jobs. However, on Sunday, a large crowd of around 200 – which featured notable figures such as Lady Sally Grylls and TV actor Marek Larwood – gathered in protest of the development. Local residents marched through Steyne Park with banners and chanting slogans such as ‘no more building’ and ‘save our village’. Many stated that the new homes will not be affordable, yet ironically some of those declaring such live in multi-million-pound houses themselves. 
A representative from Captiva Homes has this week said:
“We understand the concerns raised by some groups of Bembridge residents during the recent protests and are dedicated to addressing them. “Our commitment to affordable housing is evident. Over the past five years, we’ve been responsible for 20% of all affordable homes on the Island, despite constructing only 10% of new homes here and we recently unveiled a significant investment in a 100% affordable housing project in Newport. “Our ‘Middleton’ project maintains that commitment, it will feature eight variations of energy-efficient A-rated one to three-bedroom homes, available for rent and purchase. This wide variety of entry points means more opportunities for local young people and families on the Isle of Wight to call Bembridge home. Additionally, we are implementing a local lettings plan to ensure that affordable housing is prioritised for local people. “We are also addressing environmental concerns with an improved on-site water drainage system that prevents surface water entering the combined sewage system. Not only does this prevent any additional strain on the existing network, but it also helps increase the capacity of the wider system, as recognised in the recent Statutory Flood Investigation paper “Some groups argue that development should be denied in affluent communities, but we believe this isn’t the best approach for the island.”
Bembridge, the Island’s largest village, scores highest in the rural sustainability matrix but has seen the least amount of growth compared to other rural service centres on the Island. This disparity raises important questions about the local approach to development and could go some way to explain why PO35, the Bembridge postcode, is now the most expensive on the Isle of Wight. Plans for the Middleton development are scheduled to be reviewed by the council’s planning committee on Tuesday (30th July).
Pink needs to stop wrecking the environment and wrecking close community villages with his benefit hutches and remember – he lives here also – winding up locals, is never a good idea when you live in close proximity to them.
The Local knuckle draggers seem to think they own bembridge.They don’t.Wake up.
Exactly Bembridge already has enough houses, any more and the poors will come.
Joan Bembridge already poor people living within the village.
Since the crazy idea of building so called affordable housing in this exclusive village, we have witnessed a marked downturn in the type of people residing here.
If you can’t afford to pay the full market value, then sadly you don’t belong here.
We have even had people from areas such as Oakfield in Ryde move to Bembridge purely because of subsidised house prices. Whilst not all lower class people are troublesome, often, their slovenly ways, eating in the street, dress sense and vocabulary are often lacking.
Social housing is even worse, so all should be careful what they wish for.
I’m so pleased that I live on Cowes Seafront and don’t have this awful problem of more foreigners moving into such a beautiful town .
It had to come sometime Bembridge, you are the area with such lovely land surrounding you to build on.
Toot de pip `Old Boy’
Begging pardon Ma’am, could you show me your tradesman’s entrance?
Save your village from what. You might own the house you live in but you don’t own the views. There are more people on the island now so let them enjoy the surroundings that you do.thats all I have to say about that.
This is Bembridge, you cant have any rubbish in bags in your garden without being reported.. stuck up residents are always moaning at what others are doing on their own property
That says more about your standard of living than it does theirs…
But they won’t be enjoying the surroundings that we do will they? Because there’ll be nothing but housing estates where there were once green fields. And where does it end? Lets hope you’re not one of those people who main about having to sit in traffic because of the sheer weight of it, can’t get to see a doctor because there are too many people on their books, the same with a dentist, I could go on. And the more people that flood over here to buy up houses on all these huge developments (often as second homes or to run airbnbs) the worse it will get. If you’re happy with that then what’s the point of living on a once beautiful island? It’s a shame people like you can’t try and protect it.
Oh come on do you really think the island is only place the homes don’t need to be built. Doctors waiting list is all over the big island as it has been on the small island. You need to make way for change. And when was the last time you went picking up rubbish. I do every day. So I do my bit. And don’t be so mean to the less fortunate than you.
Whilst it was a novelty for a few trendy wealthy people to think it cool to adopt an ethnic, now we as a country are inundated with a never ending supply of them, it is clear that eventually every area will be filled with either them directly, or, as in better areas such as Bembridge, by the British people moving here to escape the influx.
This will force up demand for homes that have few social houses or affordable houses because those areas can then remain relatively immigrant free zones.
So surely few residents would want more affordable homes to be built here, or, Heaven forbid social housing? For it won’t be Bembridge children in the latter but those undesirables in the most ‘need’ due to the points allocation system.
Bembridge residents are in favour of new houses that local families on an average salary of £25-£30k can afford to buy or rent – no where does Captiva publish the price of the ‘affordable housing’ on this site. Additionally, over 100 new properties are currently under construction on nearby Steyne Road – and with a 2-bed semi at £425k these are not affordable. Mr Pink, developer behind Captiva, lives in a spectacularly expensive house in Bembridge – I don’t1
but the ones on Steyne Road aren’t Captiva? and they are talking about 1 beds too. A quick search on Rightmove shows only 1 x 1 bedroom house on the market in Bembridge…. so surely a 1 bed is going to be more ‘affordable’ than a 2? If you moved to London the affordable housing wouldnt be ‘affordable’ but it would be more affordable, surely anything is going to be an improvement on price than what’s already on the market? I had a shared ownership property elsewhere and was able to pay just 30% of the purchase price – schemes like that can be a great start in life for people.
The definition of ‘affordable’ is ‘80% of market value’. Captiva is not behind the 56 houses or 9 houses at Steyne Cross roundabout. The development on the brownfield site (where Raffles pub used to be) is for 11 flats, the majority of which are 1 bed.
Debbie check your facts – a Quick Look on the goverments website tells me affordable housing is “ Affordable housing includes homes for sale or rent and is for people whose needs are not met by the private market. It includes social rent, Affordable or Intermediate Rent, first home schemes , shared ownership, rent to buy”. As it clearly states there! My home was ‘affordable housing’ don’t believe everything the NIMBYS tell you, do your own research!
And the same Government website states ‘Homes let at least 20% below local market rents (affordable rental properties), and affordable housing for sale ‘Developers can commit to selling homes at least 20% below local market value.’
Social rent (50%) and First Home Scheme (30-50% discount) do not necessarily have to be offered when a developer has to have 35% ‘affordable housing’ in a development of 10 properties or more.
But you are telling people they are not doing that? In fairness to Jeff you don’t know that for fact. I appreciate they don’t have to, but they could do – that’s the facts?
In truth this is not just a Bembridge issue is it, the knock on affect is island wide with an over loaded sewerage system roads nearing full capacity in the east wight etc.
these properties will never be truly affordable in any true sence and will never help the young people who will never helped be such developments. PS I do not live anywhere near Bembridge.
Tories spent 14 years filling their boots with our tax money, NHS is falling apart, can’t get to see your doctor and forget getting a dentist. And to top it all of they let over a million illegal immigrants in and did nothing. Now we have a housing crisis because the Tories filled the UK up. They don’t care about what they have done, they have healthy bank balances and enough land around their homes that new housing estates will never affect them.
Will Labour do any better? Probably not. I am in favour of legal sustainable immigration, but that is not what we have had.
“Filled the UK up” – hilarious!
The Island has 140,000 people. Get a grip. S n o w fl a k e
Somehow I think the new government will over ride any local opposition
What an arrogant statement from Captiva.
I don’t recall them being awarded any sort of local powers at the last election. I thought we voted in a democratic election for those we wanted to speak on our behalf. Of course, with Labour now in ‘power” the developers are cock a hoop and can do no wrong.
If Captiva are so dedicated to social housing then the development should be 100% shared ownership or rental properties built in partnership with the council and not a token gesture of a handful of “affordable” properties.
Destroy Bembridge and you will see the money base leave just as it will on the island as a whole.
You do realise developers have to offer affordable housing to housing associations and don’t really make any profit on them? Why would they build them all and make no money. If you look into development (Google) the normal houses subsidise being able to put the affordable others on the site. It’s still a business and one that probably provides lots of island people work!
Then how did previous generations of council houses get built?
Milton Keynes built thousands of houses for rent in the early days before they started to offer shared ownership and private.
Basildon; Bracknell; Crawley; Hatfield; Harlow; Hemel Hempstead; Stevenage and Welwyn Garden City – all new towns building council houses for rent.
Come on then, Labour Government, get financing the building of these houses and stop paying lip service to the socialists….
I think we need to look at infrastructure and services first. Then a building plan can be put in place. St Marys cant cope even in the off season. Doctors waiting times are excessive You cant get a NHS dentist, Ferry’s are a total joke. Will these houses be for Islanders or just for mainland ers to retire too. How many will become second homes or air B & B ,s Developer doesn’t care he just wants them sold.130 homes means 150 ish more cars in the village. will these have charging points , can the national grid cope ?
I fully agree with what you’ve said about the infrastructure and services.
A sad example was when a local lady died in a fire a few years ago. The flat she lived in was a stone’s throw from Bembridge Fire Station. Unfortunately it had been closed down and by the time the other fire services arrived, it was too late.
So will Bembridge Fire Station open again to accommodate the extra residents?
The reason the fire station closed was the lack of young able volunteers! – 1 and 2 bedroom homes will surely attract some younger people for these type of facilitates
Jeff H. Look, we only want working class people here to walk and pick up or dogs business. Care for our elderly parents, for it is ‘best’ for them not to be hindering our lavish lifestyle, to tend our vast gardens, and of course to build ever larger extensions, pools, hot tubes, orangeries.
These working people then go back to their hovels each night in vans and old cars, leaving us in peace.
No we don’t want our children volunteering to come home damp, smelling of soot, or drain water. Surely some of the already affordable boxes built here have bored youngsters who could forgo the public house for a few nights a week and point a hose pipe in the right direction?
So keep your ideas of 1 bedroom boxes for St Helens.
What a strange post.
We need affordable housing to attract working families back in to villages otherwise you just end up with an elderly population with no schools and in Bembridges case no one to attend the fire station.
We desperately need 50/50 ownership homes and give priority to local people who work in critical areas such as NHS, emergency services etc to keep these family’s on the island. Building for the sake of building just brings more retired people from the home counties.
I was brought up in a village playing in the park most days with loads of other kids and we had a great community. Now it’s lost it’s school more larger homes have been built but there is practically no family’s left. Even the council houses are full of retired people.
shared ownership is a con. It is most certainly NOT affordable housing. The only people benefitting are the developers selling these types of properties with a hugely inflated open market value. Don’t forget, shared owners have to pay rent of c3% on top, PLUS massive service charges. It’s a scam that makes people believe it’s a good thing..
It is not a con lol! Have you ever owned one? I did I owned 30% of it and the combined mortgage and rent was cheaper than renting the same sized place and it got me on the housing ladder!!
Perhaps social houses or a larger HMO could be built to house the traveller community which is being evicted from the point car park in Bembridge?
They have lived here for years, and have kept the place tidy so they ought to be given somewhere to live in a house of multiple occupancy.
I suggest the Telephone exchange building site it soon to be sold and developed for housing and a perfect spot for these travellers if a HMO was built there. Easy parking for their vans, close to where they were, and near the Pinks home, so they too can enjoy a little diversity and enrichment of alternative lifestyle people.
Travellers? Hardly!
Whilst deploring any masse housing on the Island, it is good to see that the massive amount of immigrants filling our country daily, and which is truly never ending in numbers, is now going to effect those who thought they had ‘bought’ themselves away from such.
Whilst of course no illegals will be living in these homes, people displaced by areas now unrecognisable to them will happily pay the price to live amongst people they feel more at one amongst.
You should have bite the bullet and voted Reform, for knock on effects of Labour immigration indirectly effects all eventually.
Interesting statement. With regards to Reform, they are simply Brexit Party under another guise and whilst some of their ideas may be feasible let us not forget they promised the masses that by the UK leaving the EU we would gain control back of our borders. Which, unless I am mistaken, does not see to have happened?
Why then, and it is a serious question I am asking, should we feel that any promise or pledge they make will become reality?
Thank you for your interest.
Clearly the party could hardly call itself the Brexit party, now we have, if only temporarily, left the EU.
The party did promise WE, as in the UK, not EU, would gain control of our borders.
But, unless you hadn’t noticed, the Tories NEVER wanted the UK to leave. Cameron ONLY gave the vote because the masses were and are sick of masse immigration.
Despite project fear, to attempt to make us vote to stay, we didn’t vote the ‘way’ the Tories wanted. So, What to Do?
Answer, allow the MAIN reason the UK voted to leave ie immigration WORSE.
Then throw the GE, get Labour to cosy up to the EU even more, in deals resembling but NOT actually re-join to keep the ‘image’ of democracy alive in the UK.
The requirement for additional housing based on need is flawed from the opening paragraph of any document that states it is necesssary. Census and local rcords give no support to increase housing on the island, if if directly reflects the population then we can start knocking houses down, developers are selling a lifestyle to attract people form other parts of the country but that is completely different arguement. Remember that a developer must develop or there is no point in their existence, whether that development is needed or wanted is down to back room deals at the council planning department.
Lady Sally Grylls and TV actor Marek Larwood – famous. Sorry never heard of them.
Lady Sally Grylls is the mother of Bear Grylls, the Chief Scout of the Scout Movement. Bear Grylls appeared on TV to show everyone how to survive in the wild.
At least Bear Grylls is happy to live in a bush or a tree, so doesn’t need to have a house built if he decides to reside in Bembridge when old, and like others drive at 20mph, not indicating and parking across others drives.
Marek is a legend. Now more famous as a YouTuber – Cool Dudes Walking Club – much more interesting than housing estates.
I’m shocked to see you’re giving this developer free publicity Darren. You’ll regret it one day when you’re trying to rush to a good news story happening in Bembridge and you can’t get there for the sheer amount of traffic!
The People of Bembridge are Revolting!
So easy to see protesters against building as NIMBYs, but everyone is entitled to present an argument, and shouldn’t be labelled as some kind of nasty person not wanting people to have homes. Indeed most who protest have children who they want to see in their own property. The problem is not so much building as the type of building, and trusting developers and land agents whose main incentive is profit. Local people know that the proposed development will be out of the reach of most first time buyers (and those further up the ladder), and it will not have enough (if any) social housing or shared ownership schemes. Where possible more affordable accommodation closer to town centers and transport hubs is needed here and across the UK.
Look, Build a whole new village towards the WEST WIGHT….nothing for miles.
Build a load of houses, a pub, hairdressers, shops, chemist, GPs, Dentist ha ha, a church etc , youth club, leisure centre, etc, Planning fill your boots! and stop cramming houses in Newport and all these other arears that are OVER DEVELOPED.
It would NOT impact people or the roads like it is this side of the Island.
Do all the planning people live in the West Wight or what?
Alternatively redeveloped all the run down areas and stop building more houses.
How hard can it be!!
I had a look over the west today, and would you believe it, it has a load of houses, a pub, hairdressers, shops, chemist, GPs, Dentist ha ha, a church etc , youth club, leisure centre.
Who would have thought that…..
So basically… build, but not in your back yard. Who wants to live out in the middle of nowhere. I’m sure if there was cheap land for sale in those places and they were deemed suitable for housing developers would buy it but you must re-read your comments. You basically say build them but elsewhere lol
I would welcome affordable housing in the village with an opportunity to purchase a home, the rare houses that come on the market in my price range are snapped up before they even go to the market – look at spec of the houses that are being proposed on this development, they will be sustainable, with that being said surly Sustainability and ensuring there as little impact on the environment as possible is a good thing. And all the posh folk moan every time it rains due to the flooding, they say improvements will be made, what’s the problem. Give the younger generation a chance to live in a nice place. Never know you might end up with enough people to man you fire station. An attitude of, you cant have what I have. – Very sad, old people !
The ‘posh, sad, old’ people you refer to would like young families to be able to afford to live in the village – unfortunately ‘affordable’ housing means ‘80% of market value’ and as Captiva have not published any prices we have to assume they will be £325k approx for a 2-bed – so ‘affordable’ means £260k – not affordable.
Apologies if I have caused any offence Debbie, not sure what bracket if any you fall into ‘posh, sad or old’ or of course all. Who gave you the right to decide what is affordable to people or not? I can certainly tell you that if I got a 20% discount off of the price of a 2 bedroom property in Bembridge it would be a hell of a lot more achievable/affordable for me!
“Many stated that the new homes will not be affordable, yet ironically some of those declaring such live in multi-million-pound houses themselves.” sums it up to be honest
Keep building more and more homes,
the extra work is much appreciated.
Well done to the Developers, looking out for people who can only afford small properties, plus also having some to rent for younger people.
you are always going to have these stuffed in the Wool brigade, who don’t like something, when they are sitting on a Million pound house.
get lost barton – you haven’t got a clue
Just wait until they build houses on the point at bembridge that’s the next brownfield site earmarked for building!
We have a dramatically declining birthrate, we don’t need new houses.
And we certainly don’t need a property developer lecturing us on what houses should be built and where, and neither do we need lessons on inclusivity.
That is the WEF plan, people will own nothing and be happy.
The Birthrate decreased since the Plandemic
(Wonder why)
Bembridge is already the biggest village in England, so I think it’s done its bit for housing. At what point does it become a town? So many people want to destroy areas of beauty out of envy or spite, but when we have destroyed them all we won’t exactly be better off. How stupid to declare that all residents are wealthy or privileged. You’ve no idea!
I didn’t pay jolly good money for my holiday home to see it constrained by large development, when I visit Bembridge during the sumner with my ladies the last thing we expect is riff raff & vagabonds spoiling our spritzers at the Yacht Club, I urge caution to the planners, maybe l’ll get Tristan to have a word at The Lodge, this really is not cricket!